Tesla is redesigning the electronic door handles that are currently under investigation for trapping people inside their vehicles. In an Interview with Bloomberg, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen said that the company is looking to make the handles more intuitive for occupants in “a panic situation.” The update will involve combining the electronic and manual door-release mechanisms into one button, replacing the current design, which has them in separate locations. These changes are likely being made in response to a safety probe launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this week, following reports from Tesla owners being unable to open their doors from the outside using the inoperative handles — which sit flush against the vehicle — to remove their children.
A HUGE amount of research must have gone into this..
The door handle is one of those designs that is so close to optimal that any "disruption" will just result in a worse version of it.
I will not drive or own any vehicle with door handles that can be disabled via a loss of power. Full stop.
except they can't? There is a door handle that is manual The button is not a door handle it just opens the latch
One day they may catch up to the quality of 1990s Toyota
But how does it look? Form over function buddy, words over substance, his money over your anything
Some labs use lab rats...TSLA uses its customers.
Don't give people false hope
The 90's corolla, builder of wealth for the working class
I heard the newer models will have some kind of RAT (Ram Air Turbine) that pops up when the 12v battery is out, just need to wait for some wind to give it enough juice to operate the door handles.
The Cyberhandle. Will it be subscription based?
Jesus… how does Franz even have that conversation without incriminating the company.
They should place a sterling engine beside the battery so when it catches fire it can keep powering the car.
I assume there are many more vehicles that cannot be opened from the outside after an incident. Even older mechanical ones. Once you've locked the doors from the inside (many cars do this when you start driving) it is not possible to open them. In case of an accident you need to break the window. But then starts the confusing if you don't have a Tesla and don't know how to open it mechanically. Because it's hidden. If you break the window and are in a hurry to save someone you can't find it quickly. I think that is the main issue.
It made their vehicles stick out cause they are the only company willing to put out a worse product under the guise of disruption.
How do you get to the manual for release from the outside? >following reports from Tesla owners being unable to open their doors from the outside using the inoperative handles — which sit flush against the vehicle — to remove their children.
Will it be vision-only door handles?
"The innovative and bold futuristic new concept of the Portal Hand Device (PHD) will revolutionize the auto industry. The PHD's sleek razor sharp edges will appeal to the artists of the future. The PHD's ergonomic placement on top of the vehicle allows maximum visibility and quick access. TESLA will implement a billion new sales in the first quarter after adoption becomes fully implemented." Elon says the PHD will be ready for production sometime next year, perhaps in the fall.
You can be a fan and still point out flaws. In fact you are not a true fan if you have never noticed a flaw.
I don’t think they will. The Tesla story is almost over.
Tesla Innovation
I think they recently added back turn signal stalk to one of the models. Truly revolutionary ideas.
1990's Toyotas still run and have after market value... They are accepted at used car places.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/s/rTB4aW4Kc0
Just make it manual for god sake
having two exit handles is like having this as the emergency number - a damn good idea # 0118 999 881 999 119 725…………………3
A fellow IT Crowd enjoyer!
Funny, more Tesla hate bs. The problem is that teslas are affordable dream machines. I call mine my magic carpet ride and my gf agrees.
I have been ranting about the stupidity of the interior door handles ever since I bought mine in 2020. How hard would it have been to put a microswitch in the emergency release handle to lower the damn window???
I wonder how this issue affects Cadillac, Kia, Hyundai, Mach E? All of them have some form of electronic door handle.
Finally.
On the 3/Y, the outside handle is just an electronic switch that opens the latch. There is no mechanical connection to the latch mechanism. If there's a loss of power and the people inside are incapacitated, the only way in is to break the windows if there are people trying to help. The inside has a backup latch mechanism for the front doors. The back doors in recent ones has a cable pull in the door pockets. For the X, they're under the speaker grilles. For something like the CT, there is no external door handle at all. Add in the laminated glass (not bulletproof), and you've optimized for making it extremely difficult for others to help in case there's an accident and you're unable to escape on your own. E.g., you're trying to rescue a rear seat passenger, you've got to smash the laminated window, climb in deep enough to find the door pocket, pull up the mat, pull the cable to open the door, and then you can open the door. Or you have to pull someone through that small laminated window frame.
>Tesla is also monitoring for potential changes in Chinese regulations as the country considers implementing a ban on fully concealed door handles An interesting little note at the end. Hopefully other countries do something similar, or just increase requirements for emergency egress from cars.
May does a lot of heavy lifting
They’re not a car company, so they don’t know how to make cars
You assume wrong the door locks are designed to automatically unlock in any serious accident. That safety feature has existed since the 90s. Also this is just Tesla catching up with other car makers with hidden door handles. The same handle provides mechanical opening too if power is off.
How did the original Tesla end up again?
>If there's a loss of power and the people inside are incapacitated, the only way in is to break the windows if there are people trying to help. And now imagine if the CT actually had those indestructible windows Elon wanted...
Wasn't the door handle the only thing designed by Musk?
This needs to be repeated often and loudly. Blindly accepting everything is a cult, not fandom.
Don't have to imagine too much. The window doesn't have to be truly indestructible to just to slow rescuers (most won't know how to deal with those windows/doors) when seconds count. The CT design more than likely contributed to the deaths of these young adults. [https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1k6al0g/piedmont\_cybertruck\_crash\_victims\_dad\_sues/](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1k6al0g/piedmont_cybertruck_crash_victims_dad_sues/) The CT looks mostly intact but 3 of them died from the interior catching on fire when their friends in another car couldn't reach them.
Although its not yet mandated, many car makes unlock the power locks at the same time airbags deploy. This is becoming more and more of a problem as more models get laminated glass, which are very difficult to break in an emergency situation. There's also another element here to be discussed: batteries and fire location. BEVs tend to have the most flammable part of the car positioned directly beneath the occupants. In many Teslas, the battery case actually forms the "floor" of the vehicle - nothing but a thin carpet seperates people from fire. So now we have a trifecta: No means to open the door from the outside, laminated glass, and also a heightened fire risk. Its not good at all.
Especially those who have never been in one making the best comments as facts.
Wow, I didn't realize it had already happened.
I think its standard at this point that post airbag deployment the doors unlock, interior dome light turns on and emergency flashers start.
Updating the car when nobody is buying them
Elon's going to shack up with a pigeon.
You are following a cult and have zero critical thinking skills.
They *sell* the removed stalk to customers/marks.
My mom says I’m a catch.
Ford had frameless doors on Mustangs in the 90s that dropped the window down the fraction of an inch needed when you actuated the interior or exterior door handles. I believe the early ones were mechanical and the door handle was connected to the window regulator somehow but I know the later ones were electrical. So, not exceptionally hard.
Cause they don’t test anything throughly and they dgaf whether their customers are safe or live or die. They just want their money. Harsh but fair
People have had to helplessly watch trapped tesla passengers burn alive (and drown). I will never step foot inside a tesla. And I hope I’m never forced to witness one of teslas horror infernos where people can’t escape or be extricated but I guess I have less control of that. With some of the tesla horrors I’ve read about I would be traumatized for life if I witnessed them.
You're correct. SOP until very recently has been to break the window and open the door using the interior handle, or at least unlock it from the inside (if the car is old enough to have e.g. peg locks at window level). Even other cars with electric doors use the same mechanism for the emergency mechanical release: you just pull a bit harder, or further up or to the side. The front door releases in Teslas are bad enough solely because they're a separate control but I could see a first responder genuinely struggling to get someone out of the back, since the release is concealed all the way down in the door pocket. I'm a tall guy with long arms and I would have trouble reaching it from outside the car.
Mitch McConnell’s billionaire sister in law drowned in her Tesla as it slowly sank in a shallow pond over an hour despite the police and tow truck drivers being on scene. They could not break the glass. It was a billionaire in this case but this just as easily could have happened to a person.
You've missed the Chinese mention. Tesla can lobby/bribe/ignore US regulators, however they don't have anywhere near the same sway in China. China is proposing a one year "transition period" before an outright ban on electronic only door handles. Tesla MUST therefore redesign for the Chinese market before 2027 Placing the Chinese angle at the bottom of the article after complete speculation regarding NHTSA is a poor attempt to bury the lede.
I am an American living in Mexico. Bought a BYD and now own two. If they could be sold in the US, Tesla would be out of business by 5 this afternoon.
Tbf Corolla interior door handles regularly break off. Early 2000s model.
Revolutionary. Tesla reinvented the door handle. It now works without power. This will make the stock go through the roof for sure!
This is my take on it as well. The Model 3’s opener design isn’t terrible, IMO, but you have to adjust. The placement of the electronic button isn’t where people reach first. Any time I have a friend with me who has never been in a Tesla they always naturally reach for the mechanical opener. In trying to be clever, Tesla went against what people have gotten used to for decades. The fact that they designed the Cybertruck the way they did is fucking asinine. In an emergency the back passengers have to take the door card apart to get to the mechanical opener.
I have a Model X and my mother literally questioned the safety of the outside door handle buttons the other day. I have absolutely no idea how I could get inside if there’s a loss of power.
Unlike the Cybertruck.
Very very cool dude - teach me your ways
Gosh…so they’re going to update it into a system that works just like how the doors on Lexus have worked for years? (The new design of my vehicle came out in 2022) It uses sensors to keep you from opening the door into passing traffic. It’s a push button system, but to override it you insert your finger behind the button (which is actually a lever) and you can override it in case the batter has failed. No fuss, no muss.
You can’t say that about grimes….
How will they sell more cars if they aren't death traps though?
The risk is worth it if you can program your car horn to be a fart, I guess.
I own a 23 MYLR. It is a poorly made shit car. Only thing good about it is the powertrain. Although I expect that will disappoint me as well eventually.
What a novel idea. What's next for Tesla? The invention of steering column stalks?
I know the Tesla windows are harder to break but why is it that every time I see someone trying to bust out a car window they almost always hit the damm thing dead center... Like if you want to pop a window hit an edge. Preferably bottom corner.
It's got his DNA all over it.
*Everything is computer*
And to think, it only took them [at least 12 passenger deaths](https://fuelarc.com/evs/tesla-owners-are-installing-diy-rip-cords-to-avoid-being-trapped-in-their-vehicles-in-case-of-fire/) in the most nightmarish conditions imaginable -- Who am I kidding, the deaths didn't make Tesla do anything, it was a near-instant response to a government investigation.
Dildo
Couldn’t be bothered to handle basic safety features, or even glue his truck parts properly, but wants to take us to Mars and “solve” our system of government. The self-confidence of rich people is quite something.
hard-to-find badge gold alive sense live seemly whole grey makeshift *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*
Way to sheeple think
I think it was a feature not a bug. It allows the Tesla owner to sit in time out and think about what they purchased.
At least someone gets it.
That's a pretty high standard! Toyota today isn't at 1990s Toyota quality...
The need for a button never made any damn sense. My 90s BMW, which was designed in the late 80s, didn't need a button to handle frameless windows. The windows managed to trigger and time correctly the lowering of the window a moment before the door actually opens, all from a traditional looking door handle latch. Better yet would have been to not use frameless windows at all. One of the dumbest stylistic mistakes automakers have made on non-convertible cars, and still continue to make. They have zero benefits, and are total liabilities as far as durability, weather proofing, and implementation.
It can't be fully manual, you need some electronics and timing sequences to lower the side window glass just prior to the door opening, because of the absolutely stupid and moronic choice to use frameless side windows. I do agree that the window lowering timing sequence could easily have been handled through a traditional door handle latch, which every other manufacturer did in the past. My 1990s BMW has this. When I pull the latch on my BMW, the window instantly drops an inch before I have a chance to even try to push the door open.
Reinvent ~~the wheel~~ the door handle
Umm, a mechanical solution can't be actuated by a "button". Unless a fuckton of spring tension is involved, there needs to be a way to apply force.
> replacing the current design, which has them in separate locations. Such a massive understatement. It's not just in a "seperate location" in some of those cars - it's a straight up an obscure mechanism concealed behind a secret panel. Possibly the least "intuitive" manual release possible outside of just plain not having one at all.
This! Just put it out there. We'll fix it later when we get feedback.
Steering column first
Shouldn’t assume
Tesla needs a few decades to “invent” this tech
No retrofit obviously
She is a moth, to be accurate (that outfit…yikes!)
I mean, many 1990's toyotas will stop running this year, so they are probably getting close. 30 years on any car is likely to develop a rattle or two. Maybe in another decade 1990's toyotas will be down to the quality of brnad new teslas?
Hallelujah! They've seen the light! Took friggin long enough. Now they need to provide a way into the vehicle from the outside... even when there's no power.
So you can get in the car when it's totally dead? Didn't think so. But their "fix" for getting out of the vehicle when it has no power is finally sounding sane.
>TSLA uses its customers. One of those is match's sister in law
This is the magic of First Principles. Design something outlandish that doesn’t work well but looks “cool” and slowly morph it into something that someone designed properly long ago, which is where you should have started initially. I N N O V A T I O N
A good time to release that convertible roadster Elon is so proud of.
Both my early 2000s cars (Hyundai, Subaru) have frame-less windows and neither roll down the window *at all*. They've lasted this long without needing to roll it down first, don't know why other brands feel it's necessary or can't design a window that can take it.
Frame-less windows don't *need* to drop before opening the door, that's a design choice by the manufacturer for *some* reason. Both my early 2000s cars (Hyundai, Subaru) have frame-less windows and don't roll the window down at all when you open the door, and I've never had a single issue with either of em'. They were able to figure it out, no idea why these modern cars can't.
It has to do with the weatherstripping design and the retention system. Some designs need to clear something, others don't. I've got a couple old Cadillacs with frameless windows and neither of them roll anything down, either, the weatherstripping just has a very pronounced lip the window slides past to seal.
There are plenty of old-school cars with door handles that were opened by pushing a mechanical button. There's no reason they couldn't make a modern version of that with an electronic micro-switch on top to be the *fancy* opener, with the physical button depressing if you press the button harder than normal.
I've never noticed a lip on mine, I'm guessing this is a case of diminishing returns when it comes to style. Either that or I'm just blind.
It’s not. The original S and X had exactly this on the front doors.
> and I've never had a single issue with either of em' A lot of other people have. They're quite leak prone, and wind noise is pretty significant on the Subarus I've ridden in. The reason other manufacturers require the window to drop a little, is because they use the door frame to wedge the window against the weather gasket. > They were able to figure it out I wouldn't really make that claim considering Subaru has been dropping frameless windows on their cars starting in the late 2000s. It's a dumb design no matter how a manufacturer handles it.
True, I remember those.
My Cadillacs were also from the 70s. Between technology improving and different manufacturers doing it their own way, I'm sure there are many different kinds of solutions. Still, whether the window needs to drop or not, the Tesla answer is overly complex.
Considering this car comes from a guy whose motto is "the best part is no part", I can't believe they did a separate button and lever for routine and emergency exiting. They could have combined both functions in the lever. One fewer part and less complexity.
I wonder how many people have burned to death in Teslas at this point.
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